“Life gives you a lemon, you make lemonade”: a qualitative study of identity among young male adult cancer survivors

The findings indicate that the participants' pre-cancer identities, which emphasized agentic qualities over communal ones, were significantly altered. Post-treatment, they experienced a reorientation of values and priorities, shifting from an agentic to more communal self-perception contributing to the development of a more mature identity and a revised outlook on life. These findings may serve as a foundational basis for future research and to inform the development of clinical practices.